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[42] And not so very long afterward that famous philosopher Maximus, a man with a great reputation for learning, through whose rich discourses Julian stood out as an emperor well stored as regards knowledge, 1 was alleged to have heard the verses of the aforesaid oracle. And he admitted that he had learnt of them, but out of regard for his philosophical principles had not divulged secrets, although he had volunteered the prediction that the consultors of the future would themselves perish by capital punishment. Thereupon he was taken to his native city of Ephesus and there beheaded; 2 and taught by his final danger he came to know that the injustice of a judge was more formidable than any accusation.

1 Cf. xxii. 7, 3; xxv. 3, 23; he plays a prominent part in Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean.

2 By order of Festus, proconsul of Asia.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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